1. Field of the Invention
This invention pertains to a telephone paystation, and more particularly, to a paystation which only accepts and reads a credit card as the form of payment for calls made therefrom and which is powered solely from the central office to which it is connected.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Coin operated paystations have been in use for a number of years. Telephone companies have also been issuing cards which may be used by credit-worthy customers for charging telephone calls from such paystations in lieu of using coins. The problems with the use of such cards has been that the customer had to interface with the operator, and also had to recite a long credit card number to the operator. Therefore, not only was the customer charged at the operator assisted rate for the call, but the possibilities existed for the misuse of lost or stolen cards or fraud on the telephone company.
Recently, telephone companies have been installing paystations in high traffic areas, such as airports, which do not accept coins. These paystations allow the user to enter the number of the telephone being called as well as the number of his telephone company issued credit card through the use of the keypad. This allows the caller to avoid use of the operator and thereby obtain a preferential rate for the call. The major drawback with such telephones is that the caller must enter the credit card number himself. This number is generally in the order of fourteen (14) digits and, therefore, the customer may have to enter a total of up to twenty-five (25) digits in order to make a long distance call from the paystation. This is a cumbersome procedure which may lead to error. In addition, the customer may become frustrated if he finds it necessary to redial because of an inability to reach the called party for whatever reason.
Finally, recent favorable decisions by the Federal Communications Commission have allowed other common carriers (OCC's) to compete with the telephone operating company in providing long distance service. These OCC's may find it desirable to provide their own coinless paystations in high traffic areas. Therefore, it is desirable that such paystations be relatively easy to operate. It is also desirable that such paystations take advantage of the ability of a credit card to store credit related information thereon. Such stations could be installed and used with minimal changes to the telephone company or OCC central office as such offices now have the capability of receiving customcr entered credit information for purposes of billing.
Telephones which include mechanisms for reading credit cards are known. One such example is shown in U.K. Pat. No. 1,442,883, entitled "Telephone System With Special Kinds of Telephone Sets." In the system described therein the special telephone sets have a receptacle wherein the user may insert a mechanically readable card. The telephone set sends a signal to the exchange indicating that the card has been inserted. In response to that signal, the exchange connects a control unit to the telephone which sends a signal to the telephone which causes the card to be read and the information thereon sent to the unit. Upon receipt of the information, the unit sends a dial tone to the telephone. The internal structure of the telephone and its manner of powering are not described. It is clear, however, that these special telephones are not conventional in that the dial tone does not result from the closing of any hookswitch, but rather from the exchange (C.O.) only after the data on the card has been read and transmitted to it.
Another such example is U.S. Pat. No. 4,326,123 entitled "Telephone Credit Card System." It appears that that system uses a card having on it at least the receiving phone number and the credit card number. The information on the card is read and transmitted to a general purpose computer. The computer is used to interface with the telephone network. It then appears that the computer asks either for a further readout or authorizes the actuation of the dialer associated with the reader. Unfortunately, a complete understanding of the system cannot be obtained from the patent as the description and drawing figures are not fully clear as to its operation.
It is, therefore, desirable that a credit only paystation appear to the user to function in a manner similar to that of conventional coin operated paystations. It is further desirable that such a paystation be connected to the C.O. and activated upon the lifting of the handset by the user. It is also desirable that such a paystation allow the user to dial certain predetermined numbers without the necessity of first establishing credit worthiness. Additionally, it is desirable that such a paystation allow the predetermined numbers to be changed by a service person. Lastly, it is desirable that such a paystation be powered entirely from the central office to which it is connected.